I went to see star wars the other night. I enjoyed it sure, but SPOILER?: was it not basically the same story as one of the original films?! - i.e. rebels on the back foot, massive death star, they find a strangely easy way to destroy it...

I was very surprised to see that even the die hard fans really liked it?! Surely they should be up in arms about the lack of storyline.

They could have easily gone with a race to find Luke Skywalker with a "has he gone to the dark side?" type theme?

The new girl was pretty cool and I'm intrigued to find out her background. END SPOILER.

Last edited by iamarover on Mon Jan 04, 2016 12:10 pm, edited 1 time in total.
Reason:edited to add spoiler text as Star Wars fans might prefer not to know some of this stuff - although they've probably already seen it.

I liked that **Spoiler** it had so many call backs to the original trilogy, I thought it was an effective way of bedding down the new characters whilst highlighting their differences to the old mainstays. It succeeded in engaging me in a way that the prequels utterly failed, and it's the first star wars entry that I've loved since Knights of the Old Republic on the Xbox (you can get it for mobile now, and although it's a little pricey, the story is well worth it.)

The only bit that left me scratching my head was why the hell anyone thought it would be a good idea to make Storm Trooper's helmets only filter out smoke and not toxins. **end spoilers**

My minor annoyance was **Spoilers** Rey went from being told she had the Force to then being able to use it without any kind of training or guidance. She was able to get the storm trooper to let her go and she was able to resist (and then reverse) Kylo Ren's 'mind control'. I think all it would have needed was a 'push' from Han Solo (for example) to say "You're strong with the force, you can do stuff like mind control etc" **/spoilers**

I know they've recycled a lot of the ideas and plot from the original films, but I think they needed to stabilise the franchise after how disastrous the prequels were.

I didn't think the prequels were all that bad, especially the much maligned Phantom Menace.

The new one was good; as for the SPOILERS: fact that Rey could instantly use the force, there was some clear indication that she's Luke Skywalker's illegitimate offspring with Leia. So that's like uber-duber force stuff. Or something. Anyway. I liked the move away from the lightsabre somersaulting nonsense from Attack of the Clones/Revenge of the Sith, and Kylo Ren's double handed lightsabre broadsword was pretty cool. END SPOILERS.

Gibbon wrote: SPOILERS: The only bit that left me scratching my head was why the hell anyone thought it would be a good idea to make Storm Trooper's helmets only filter out smoke and not toxins. **end spoilers**

I agree Rory. There was a lot to like about it, but I felt let down that they'd basically made the story from a checklist of key points from the first film. Little robot on the run with secret plans - CHECK! Old man mentor figure slayed by masked bad guy - CHECK! Powerful weapon that looks like a planet with a dodgy weakspot - CHECK! Rename the Empire as the First Order and no one will notice...

Hudson wrote:My minor annoyance was **Spoilers** Rey went from being told she had the Force to then being able to use it without any kind of training or guidance. She was able to get the storm trooper to let her go and she was able to resist (and then reverse) Kylo Ren's 'mind control'. I think all it would have needed was a 'push' from Han Solo (for example) to say "You're strong with the force, you can do stuff like mind control etc" **/spoilers**

I presumed that **Spoilers** it was possibly something when Ren tried to interrogate her, he in fact sparked her force abilities into life, and she was able to then draw information from HIM. It's not to much of a stretch to imagine that she may have somehow learned some of his techniques while poking around inside his mind. Or if you make a LOT of assumptions...it seems likely that she's Luke's daughter or at least one of the young jedi he was training. We're told that Luke was training a new generation of jedi until Kylo Ren destroyed it all. I also wondered if in despair Luke had left her on Tatooine with someone trusted in order to hide and protect her - only for something to go wrong. This would explain how she knows jedi techniques as jedi have been shown learning from very early ages. She may not recall it, but she could have a fair few of the skills ingrained through that.**/Spoilers**

Also - Troll Hunter is ace, never seen Lobster.

Last edited by Gibbon on Mon Jan 04, 2016 2:54 pm, edited 1 time in total.

Hudson wrote:My minor annoyance was **Spoilers** Rey went from being told she had the Force to then being able to use it without any kind of training or guidance. She was able to get the storm trooper to let her go and she was able to resist (and then reverse) Kylo Ren's 'mind control'. I think all it would have needed was a 'push' from Han Solo (for example) to say "You're strong with the force, you can do stuff like mind control etc" **/spoilers**

I presumed that **Spoilers** it was possibly something when Ren tried to interrogate her, he in fact sparked her force abilities into life, and she was able to then draw information from HIM. It's not to much of a stretch to imagine that she may have somehow learned some of his techniques while poking around inside his mind. Or if you make a LOT of assumptions...it seems likely that she's Luke's daughter or at least one of the young jedi he was training. We're told that Luke was training a new generation of jedi until Kylo Ren destroyed it all. I also wondered if in despair Luke had left her on Tatooine with someone trusted in order to hide and protect her - only for something to go wrong. This would explain how she knows jedi techniques as jedi have been shown learning from very early ages. She may not recall it, but she could have a fair few of the skills ingrained through that.**/Spoilers**

Also - Troll Hunter is ace, never seen Lobster.

You mean SPOILERS Jakku, the new, almost identical Tatooine in the new films. I'd say the flashback when she picks up Luke's lightsabre with her being left just after Kylo Ren's massacre pretty much confirms it's Luke hiding his daughter before he leaves; as with the way he looks at her right at the end.

We've had some external consultants in who are in the middle of doing a mass-cull in the office. They've been such assholes throughout the process that last week I wrote a nice little spoiler on their whiteboard (as part of some chart they'd written) when no one was in that simply says Han Solo dies

It's been there all day and no one has noticed or rubbed it out. Too mean?